On the Idiot Box: "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," "Liv and Maddie" and "Dads"

The gang from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" returns, but on a new network.

It's Always Sunny in PhiladelphiaWednesdays, 10pm, FXXCaptive audience: The same drunks, deviants and dirtbags who’ve stuck with the show for the past eight seasons.Moment of truth: OK, so the ninth-season opener of FX’s long-running, dark-hearted sitcom—which now has a home on new spinoff channel FXX—was more cruel than funny. (Poor Sweet Dee.) Thankfully, upcoming episodes have our favorite hometown scumbags from Paddy’s Pub getting into their usual, amorally outrageous groove. Next week’s episode is certainly the most meta, as the gang desperately tries to win an award after being on the air—I mean, open for business—all these years. Even though they’re on another network, these jerks continue to do their best when they’re at their worst.Emmy or phlegmmy: Emmy. But they’ll probably never get one.

Liv and MaddieSundays, 8pm, Disney ChannelCaptive audience: Teenage girls and other people who’ve never seen one episode of The Patty Duke Show.Moment of truth: It’s basically The Parent Trap: The Sitcom with this latest Disney Channel offering. Dove Cameron stars as night-and-day identical twins—one is a diva TV star returning home to her family, the other a level-headed basketball star who wears glasses—both going through usual teen-girl stuff. Although Disney aired the slightly tolerable pilot during the summer, the show is now sliding into an insufferable, unfunny rhythm now that it’s in its time slot. With the way Disney drops teen starlets in mediocre sitcoms, is it any wonder Miley Cyrus is doing batshit-crazy things now that she’s an adult?Emmy or phlegmmy: Phlegmmy.

DadsTuesdays, 8pm, FoxCaptive audience: Those people who think S#*! My Dad Says shouldn’t have been cancelled.Moment of truth: Now that Seth MacFarlane basically runs Fox, he can get a sitcom from two former Family Guy writers greenlit, no matter how shitty it is—and this one is as execrable as they come. Seth Green and Giovanni Ribisi play buddies and video game designers who both have insufferable fathers (Peter Riegert and Martin Mull, respectively). You can sense this show is trying to recapture the satirically crass comedy of old Fox sitcoms like Married with Children. But this show’s racist, misogynistic, downright ugly humor usually lands with a loud, detestable thud.Emmy or phlegmmy: Phlegmmy.